I’ve only started with Maxwell and intend to read him chronologically. I think you will find him well worth your while.

The other day I was torn between purchasing another Greene novel (either The Power and the Glory or The Heart of the Matter) but opted instead for William Maxwell’s So Long, See You Tomorrow. I don’t think I would have chosen poorly any way around, but I had not yet read Maxwell, so he won out in the end. I hope to get to more Greene soon!

Finally got around to reading it this weekend, so I came back to check this review before attempting my own. It is so good, that there is no way I can even hope to complement it — so thought I would bring it back up on your comment list to recommend The Quiet American to others.

As your review notes, Greene is not only prescient about what happens in Vietnam after 1955, he has some remarkable insights that are worthwhile more than 50 years later. When America is wondering whether Iraq will restore “order” after its invasion; making threatening noises about Iran; and discovering what the British and Russians had already discovered in Afghanistan, Greene’s thoughts about exporting “democracy” in the form of Pile’s naive, but dangerous, interventions certainly give pause for thought. It is only part of what is a very good novel (as you point out), but does make this book very timely. In some ways, I’m glad I waited so many months to read it. And again, for anyone reading this comment, this review gets 10 out of 10.

As far as The Third Man goes, Max’s comment above that refers to Reed’s Odd Man Out hopefully can quell the concern. But, I think, the speculation is inevitable; it was at the time The Third Man came out and will continue especially now that all involved in the production are gone. Speculation which, as you say, has no evidentiary support. We just know that the film was brilliantly directed. The fact that Reed continued to direct brilliantly definitely should be held as some support that Welles didn’t direct.

There is no evidence whatsoever that Orson Welles directed any of The Third Man, and Welles himself firmly denied it. What he did do, of course, apart from giving a wonderful performance as Harry Lime, was add those famous lines about Switzerland and cuckoo clocks to the end of the speech on the Ferris wheel.

Greene was an expert at the devasting final paragraph, often even final sentence, he had a tendency in the last words of a novel to cast a bleak light on all that had gone before.

Personally I’m very fond of Brighton Rock, I consider Travels with my Aunt to have some very powerful imagery and some wonderful lines (as a man swaps one prison for another, under the illusion of finding freedom), Our Man in Havana has a final sentence that transforms the book from comedy to tragedy though I think its implications are often missed. Obviously I’m fonder of that last two than John, but I would say that Greene’s work varies in my experience from good to great and the good are often more in the line of well written thrillers than deeper novels (of course, he himself called them entertainments as John rightly notes). There’s a lot he wrote that is rewarding to read when you read it, but does not perhaps linger in the memory, but I’ve not read much by him that didn’t at least have a scene or two that have stayed with me over the years.

Rob, I think I might also watch The Third Man. It’s been a long time, and the main reason I watched it the first time was to see if I believed people who said that Orson Welles actually directed it and not Carol Reed. I have to say, it sure looks like he might have stepped behind the camera a time or two. Anyway, now I want to watch it to learn more about Greene.